It is the view of Evans, director of the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota and author of Personal Politics , that ``to understand the force of women's experience . . . we must adjust our vision so that we can see the world not only through the major male figures in the foreground but also through the eyes of female figures--a Puritan good wife, an African slave, an Iroquois matron, a westering woman, a female immigrant, a settlement house worker, a secretary.'' She advances to this end by melding the stories of representative, sometimes well-known, women into the larger sphere of American politics and public life. Richly diverse accounts exemplify the challenge and struggle that have defined and continue to alter the roles of women in our nation's development. In this respect Evans's useful exploration of the participatory nature of women's history in the United States differs from the majority of feminist literature. (June)